Cardiff's incompetent traffic officers cock it up again

I have had considerable correspondence with the residents of the Monico flats and Pantbach Road about this bus stop and I have made representations to the council about both the lack of consultation and the dangers posed by motorists being forced into illegal manoeuvres to get around it.

The only saving grace about the stop is that it was paid for from monies provided to the council from the developers of the Monico flats. But it is of scarce comfort to those of us who live by and use this junction regularly.
Fenella Bowden
Independent Councillor for Heath

Royal College of Music and Drama land grab

What happened to the Cardiff Council owned (our) land to the front of the RCMD building?

What was once the 1795 built Glamorganshire Canal was a council run car park. After the first building was finished, the RCMD was allowed to grass over the carpark to make it more attractive.

But a condition was that the old canal footprint remained and would be kept intact for future archeology.

Not only has that portion of the canal been obliterated, the college has managed to steal even more land and place carparking under their own control.

College supremo Hilary Bowden says it is a historic site and she's correct. Unfortunately her respect of our historic and cultural heritage doesn't seem to matter if it gets in the way of what she wants.

So who gave the land away? And who said it was ok to destroy the historic canal remains?
And as for Cardiff's transportation policies - who will be using all the extra parking RCMD now controlls - the public? students? lecturers? No chance - its for the overpaid unaccountable colleges big-wigs who could quite easily commute from their leafy suburbs by bus but don't see why they should share anything with the rest of us (let alone to the taxpayers who pay them)
£22.5m spent and what does Cardiff get?

Only two days to stop this madness

"Cardiff could become ‘concrete jungle’ of new homes" western mail
Consultation on the local development plan is about to close.
You don't need to write a thesis to enter your views - just send an email saying we don't need 55000 more hoses in Cardiff. Build then in the valleys where they need the boost and have the space.
http://yourcardiff.walesonline.co.uk/2011/05/10/concerns-cardiff-could-become-concrete-jungle-of-new-homes/

Deterioration of Cardiff Bus

A freedom of information request by The Cardiffian revealed Cardiff Bus received 2,319 complaints between 1 January 2010 and 28 February 2011.

The latest Cardiff Citizens Panel Newsletter reports "Of those respondents who reported that they use bus services in Cardiff, 37.6% believe that the services have improved as a result of the recent changes in the City Centre"  This means 62.4% do not believe the City Centre changes have improved bus services!

Julie Morgan began a campaign to improve Cardiff Bus. But that was before she gained enough votes for a successful election. Is she still so keen? We'll see. We'll remember that she said "We have to keep the pressure up.”

"Stop Bus Chaos" "Buses for passengers" "Vote Julie Morgan"

Julie Morgan with Cardiff Council's transport guru Delme Brown

55000 new homes in Cardiff? That's Ridiculous!

The Cardiff Council Local Development plan consultation closes on 10th June 2011. Did you know what they're planning?  Not many of us do. A few public meetings (8) were held between 9th & 12th May. Not much chance for us to see what's going on eh?

The Council says they have to build between 36,400 and 54,400 new homes! But the Assembly won't let the wider region and other councils coordinate their plans - Cardiff has to build these homes within Cardiff boundaries. How stupid is that? We all know that plenty of people who work and shop in Cardiff live elsewhere. There is not much space in the City but thousands of acres in the valleys that would benefit from housing development. What a great boost to the valley economy!

We say planning for the future without looking at the bigger picture is like being asked to bake a Steak & Kidney Pie, and then being told that not only can't you have any Steak, you can't have Kidneys either. The result is something that looks like a pie but has nothing of substance and satisfies nobody.

http://www.cardiff.gov.uk/content.asp?nav=2870,3139,3154,5845&parent_directory_id=2865&id=11575

Cardiff plans to build up to 55,000 new homes which will devastate the City's green spaces

Illegal advertising - where are you Cardiff Council?

We've been noticing more and more illegal advertising going up around the city. Most of it is just environmental pollution and in our opinion should require planning permission. So we asked the Council what was legal and what they would do about the proliferation of unauthorised advertising sites. The response? We're not aware of any unlawful sites but please take photographs and send them to us and we'll investigate.

Investigate? Its everywhere! Just open your eyes and do your job.

These companys put these signs up to help increase their sales - not for the benefit of our community. If they break the law, fine them! No id or buts. They know what they're doing. Lets get some council offcers who know what they're doing too!



Clint the Traffic Warden - a Fistful of Parking Tickets



Clint the Traffic Warden



We watched a lone traffic warden ambling along the mean streets of Llanishen yesterday morning. As he strolled for twenty minutes along Tyglas Td, Tyglas Avenue and Kimberly Terrace to Llanishen Village, we noticed the significance of these roads to a council traffic warden searching for obstructions and illegally parked vehicles - there are none. There never are. The area boasts a total lack of divers behaving badly.

All the bottlenecks in the area are causes by the implementation of inappropriate traffic calming measures such as blocking off roads, chicanes, traffic lights and road narrowing (not to mention Inland Revenue workers unnecessarily being forced to share access with the Business Park and Retail area)

We were struck by the nonchalant traffic warden who reminded us of Clint Eastwood in the film A Fistful of Dollars. The locals trembled as he passed slowly. We didn't see him spit in rebellious defiance but he could have done.

Our amusement turned to tears just a few minutes later when we drove along Caerphilly Rd where our Clint must have passed through on his journey. Dozens of cars parked on pavements and yellow lines Bus stops blocked and traffic driving through having to stop for oncoming vehicles because of this illegal parking. None of them showing parking tickets

So why didn't Clint book any of them? Perhaps he's looking forward to the sequel "A Few Tickets More"

Taxis aren't Buses!

Why are taxis permitted to use bus lanes? They're not buses.

The whole point of bus-lanes is surely to speed the population en-mass from where they are to where they want to be. The sacrifice other road users make is to sit in their car-queues while watching their fellow citizens speed past them in the comfort and stress-free environment of a Cardiff Bus - not for some scruffy, dirty, taxi driver to fast track another doctor's prescription delivery from door to door.

If the argument is that by asking a taxi we reduce the number of vehicles on the road - rubbish!

If Mr and Mrs Better Cardiff decide to visit the city centre from Better Towers here in leafy Lisvane, we will drive in the four miles and park before driving the return journey, a total of 8 miles. A taxi however will drive from the centre to collect us before driving back - a first leg of eight miles, and then repeat the operation in reverse thereby covering a massive 16 miles. How does this contribute to the well-being of our transport system?

So lets get the petrol guzzling, dirty taxis out of our bus lanes and do ourselves a big favour

Cardiff Transport Committee

Cardiff Transport Planning Committee conduct site visit May 2011

Mr Cardiff

I had a message addressed to "Mr Cardiff" and began "Dear Better...."
Guess why their message didn't last long before deletion.

Maybe a reply should have been sent
"Dear Mr Spam,
Thanks for getting touch. How is Mrs Spam and all the little Spams? I bet they're growing up really fast and will soon be spending their time annoying us all just like the rest of your Spam family.
Anyway, I have to go now as the delete button requires pushing.
Yours sincerely,
Mr Better Cardiff "